Ryann Chandler didn't think much about the headaches that arrived after she took a ball to the head during a friendly game of pepper. Nor did it give her much pause a few weeks later when a ball smacked her in the face and wrenched her neck during an early-season game for Pepperdine. She played on.
But the pain intensified after a September game at Kentucky that fall of 2013. The freshman libero was first diagnosed with a migraine, but later it became apparent that it was a concussion, a frightening word in Chandler's world.
Her dad, Chris Chandler, an NFL quarterback for 17 years who had been nicknamed "Crystal Chandelier" for his numerous injuries, was all too familiar with them, and he explained to her the long-term consequences.
"I got really depressed," Ryann Chandler said.
And scared. Volleyball became secondary to her health. Her headaches made computer use painful and focusing difficult. Chandler and her dipping grades left Pepperdine that December and returned home to San Diego and enrolled at MiraCosta College in Oceanside.
"I didn't plan to play again," Chandler said.
Which makes Friday's game in Minneapolis "a million times sweeter."
Now a setter at UCLA, Chandler and the Bruins (26-6) play North Carolina (29-3) in Friday's Sweet 16 in Minneapolis at 10:45 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Host Minnesota meets Missouri in the earlier matchup, and the regional final is set for 10 p.m. on Saturday. The goal is the final four in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 15 and 17.
"I do not take for granted going to the Sweet 16 and all this team has accomplished," the 21-year-old Chandler said. "I'm super grateful I'm able to contribute to the team success this year and hopefully will take it a bit further and go on to Columbus."
Six months of headaches gradually lessened with trips to a chiropractor who realigned her neck, noting her head was tilted and rotated. "He said my head looked like an old person's," she said. "The blood flow was only coming to one side of my head."
Instead of road trips to Honolulu and Malibu, Chandler settled into life as a commuter to MiraCosta College. Living at home and driving to class was not the life Chandler ever envisioned, but the three semesters of community college allowed her to redefine her priorities.
The biggest transformation was in the classroom. Chandler wasn't overly ambitious in high school, despising math and science and never bothering with AP classes.
Now, she immersed herself in academics in a way she never had before, taking on a heavy load and redirecting the laser focus that defined her on the court. With more free time than ever, she worked two jobs at volleyball clubs.
"I thought volleyball was no longer an option, so I found a love for school." Ryann Chandler
She graduated from MiraCosta in the spring of 2014 with an associate degree and a 3.8 GPA.
"It was an adjustment, but I definitely think I grew as a person," she said. "I thought volleyball was no longer an option, so I found a love for school. I learned how to study and write papers; I even tutored. With two jobs, I learned to have different time-management skills than being an athlete."
Until her former coach, Brent Hilliard, approached her about playing again, Chandler hadn't considered it seriously. The San Diego associate head coach told her he needed a setter and asked her to consider a return to volleyball. Chandler shrugged off the idea, but she got back in the gym to see how she felt.
No longer a regular in the weight room, she was thinner. But she regained her touch easily, and lifting and protein shakes added back the muscle. She visited USD and Cal, but found what she was looking for in both school and volleyball at UCLA.
"I wanted to choose a school for the school itself," said Chandler, a sociology major. "At Pepperdine, volleyball was taken away from me, and I needed to be happy with whatever place I was at, not just the volleyball. All the schools were top caliber in volleyball. Ultimately, UCLA was the best fit because I knew whether or not I played volleyball, I would be happy there."
As a Bruin she reunited with Reily Buechler, a longtime club teammate, and middle blocker Jennie Frager, whom she set for at Torrey Pines High School. Mom Diane Chandler remembers her daughter worrying about not being good enough, but once back in uniform, the mechanics returned. Along with her passion.
Time away from the game led to a calmer demeanor that she translates to her teammates in high-pressure situations. The Bruins, four-time NCAA champions, navigated a tumultuous Pac-12 to finish runner-up to Washington. They enter this weekend winners of seven of their past nine, having beaten Murray State and Baylor to advance to Minneapolis.
Senior Taylor Formico is the top libero in the conference and, along with Frager and freshman Torrey Van Winden, picked up first-team AVCA Pacific South all-region honors. Buechler is tops on the Bruins in kills and points. Chandler leads in service aces and assists.
Coach Michael Sealy especially likes the leader Chandler has become.
"She's always had a great head for the game, and she's stronger now," he said. "Her range has increased because of the added strength. Pieces have changed around her, but she's had the same consistency since coming in."
Chandler has another year of eligibility, but the All-Academic Pac-12 selection will graduate and forgo that given career prospects that interest her in the Bay Area.
That leaves ideally two more weekends to savor volleyball the second time around.
"I'm so excited for this weekend," she said, adding that many of her teammates eagerly anticipate the forecast of a snowfall in Minneapolis. "It's special to be able to go this far with your team. It's dwindling down, and we're all talking about the funny things that have happened this season. It will be special to go out with the class I came in with and hopefully end on a high note."